Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

I have been using ACT more often in the past 5 years and this has been very helpful for clients who have trouble changing or challenging their thoughts. ACT providers a framework to approach their thoughts with validation and understanding and incorporates metaphors and meditation. ACT has been especially well received by clients who are experiencing anxiety.

I use ACT to help you reconnect with yourself, take purposeful action, and maintain focused yet flexible engagement with your life and what you value.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an approach that helps clients learn to stop avoiding, denying, and struggling with their inner emotions and, instead, accept that these deeper feelings are appropriate responses to certain situations that should not prevent them from moving forward in their lives. This can help clients begin to accept their hardships and commit to making changes in their behavior, regardless of what is going on in their lives and how they feel about it.

ACT encourages you to embrace your individual experiences, thoughts, and emotions while emphasizing the importance of your values to a life that is fulfilling to you.

This modality works under the belief that if we can accept our thought, feelings, and emotions without becoming attached to them we will have much less distress. Instead of latching onto or believing our thoughts, and feelings we notice them but let them go (float by), noticing them but not getting attached to them.

I have advanced training in ACT, and I weave in ACT principles in just about every therapy session. The following principles work in conjunction with one another toward the main goals of effectively handling painful thoughts and experiences and creating a rich, vital life: cognitive defusion, expansion and acceptance, contact and connection with the present moment, the Observing Self, values clarification, and committed action.

My primary approach is Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) - and I have multiple trainings in using ACT working with anxiety, grief, depression, and stress. I also apply ACT when working with people experiencing insomnia.

I have gone through basic ACT training with the founder of the modality: Dr. Steven Hayes. I have completed a 4-day bootcamp, & am currently pursuing advanced training in the modality.

ACT aims to help you stay present and in control of what you can change. It allows you to work through negative emotions so you can focus on healing rather than the negative thoughts/emotion.

I have done less work with ACT than other therapeutic modalities but I have run a group based on acceptance and commitment therapy and I do use the principles in my individual sessions. I believe that ACT is a modality that can be beneficial for those with qualities of themselves they need help working through and am happy to use it when and if it’s requested.

ACT is a humanistic and behavioral approach to mental health concerns and aims to understand various forms of mental health concerns within the context of your lived experience. At times I may draw from this theory to explore how your relationship to your emotions and feelings impacts your sense of self, relationships, and behavior. The goal of this theory is to empower you to gain a deeper understanding of yourself, your emotions, and your behavior and encourages values-based living.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) ACT can help you experience your thoughts, feelings and sensations while still doing the things you value in your life.

I am a newer ACT practitioner, but I adore this modality. It's full of so much warmth, self-compassion and it pairs nicely with my personal approach which is heavily focused on the relational component in therapy.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) combines aspects of acceptance and mindfulness approaches with behavior-change strategies, in an effort to help clients develop psychological flexibility. Therapists and counselors who employ ACT seek to help clients identify the ways that their efforts to suppress or control emotional experiences can create barriers. When clients are able to identify these challenges, it can be easier to make positive and lasting changes.

We generally weave principles of ACT throughout sessions. ACT uses metaphors to illustrate concepts, which helps our brains not get stuck in literal thought and past interpretations. It's also helpful to get a sense of your values and what is important in your life. ACT uses a foundation of mindfulness to enable greater self awareness and insight and we will teach mindfulness skills during session and encourage you to have an at home practice.